Bathing garment



Nov. 24 1925. 1,562,720

F.. l.. PETTEE Err Aq.

BATHING GARMENT Filed Aug. l0, 1922 l Patented Nov. 24, 1925.

FRED L. PETTEE AND THEODORE BRGMAN, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

-BATHING- GARMENT.

Application led August 10, 1922. Serial No. 580,886.

To all whom t may con-cern.'

Be it known that we, FRED L. PE'mEE and THeononE BARGMAN, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in

5 the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bathing Garments, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Our invention relates to bathing suits and has for its objects, among others, to provide a bathing suit which will float the wearer without any effort on his part to sustain his head above water; und also at the same time provides for'freedom of movement of the body while swimming, Substantially like that ati'orded by wool and cotton garments commonly used for bathing suits. Then also, since bathing suits are carried about from place to place and stored through seasons wlfen not in use, it is importantthat such suits be soconstructed as to facilitate the folding and packing of the same without '-5 requiring an undue amount ot' space therefor., A bathing suit to be sufliciently buoyant to float the body of a person in the water necessarily requires bulk of material much greater than would be required for such garlnent where it is not designed or adapted to float the body of the wearer Joy reason of its inherent properties of buoyancy. To use such material in a way to provide suitable comfort to the wearer, freedom of bodily movements while swimming and facilitate the general use thereof, we have addressed our efforts and accomplished these objects by the const ructiou illustrated in the accompanying dra\\'ings of which Figure 1 is a plan View of the front of the buoyant bathing suit;

Fig. 2 is a rear plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross section taken on the line III- III of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line IV- IV of Fig. 1.

To construct a buoyant bathing suit in accordance with our invention, a piece of l cloth or knit material, which may be of cotton or wool or any suitable material, is cut to form an outer covering l, another of like character to form the inner facingl or lining 2. A layer or matting of kapok is then placed Within the outer covering 1 and lining 2, leaving 'a strip 3 'through the center line of the front of the garment extending to and including the crotch; a like strip 4 through the back, a strip 5 around the waist line and strips G, 6 extending from the bottom of the arm hqles to the lower extremity of the garment, i'n which strips, no kapok material is inserted; or in other words, the

garment is made into sections containing kapok, each section being separated 'from any other by strips 'offabric at the points herein before stated and which strips may consist' of the outer coveringr and lining stitched together so that along these strips no kapok material is inserted between the outer covering and lining and the garment `will bend along the lines of these strips as readily as a cloth garment and therefore may be easily folded. into a smalLspace vand each section being independent of any other permits freedom of movement of the body while swimming. After the kapok matting is inserted it is preferably stitched or quilted along the dotted lines 7, thereby forming a multiplicity of tufts 8, containing kapok. The front of the garment is made to open like a shirt by means ot' buttons 10 to facilil tate putting on and taking off the garment.

lVe claim:

A bathing suit comprising an outer covering, a

lining, a layer of kapok between said covering and said lining, said covering and lining being stitched together to form noncomniunieating individual kapok filled tufts that present protuberances inside of a bathing suit for contact with wearer so that the body contact is materially reduced to facilitate removal of the suit.

In testimony whereof weaix our signatures.

FRED L. PETTEE. THEODORE BARGMAN. 

